


If I Were Human

by panda013 (Amiria_Raven)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Cat AU, F/M, Other, Unrequited Love, adrien is a cat, adrien is in love with marinette, adrienette friendship, marinette is a human, one sided adrienette, yup that's right
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-18 03:06:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7296985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amiria_Raven/pseuds/panda013
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He has wished with all his heart and on all the stars in the sky, but his dilemma has remained the same. Someday, he will have to realize that wishes on stars don't come true, and that a cat will always be just a cat.</p><p>DRABBLE SERIES.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. un

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheAmazingAl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAmazingAl/gifts).



> Hey guys! 
> 
> Welcome to a new fic, requested by TheAmazingAl! 
> 
> So a few things before we start: THIS IS A DRABBLE SERIES. Al gave me a prompt and I started writing it for her in bits and pieces, and I decided that's how it would be posted, too. This series is also helping me get back into writing, because I have been in a huge slump for MONTHS, so I might be a wee bit rusty!
> 
> Anyway, I hope you like it, and I'll get back to some of my other fics soon, guys! <3

_If I were human_ _,_ he tells himself _,_ _I wouldn’t let them get away with what they’ve done to me._

He’s had a lot of bad experiences with other humans, so when he first sees her, fright creeps into his chest. The cat arches his back and hisses at the human female approaching him, but she just gives him a gentle smile and lightly places something on the ground between them.

She doesn’t move back and he doesn’t calm down.

He _can’t._

She’s a human, after all, and humans are horrible, terrible, bad creatures. They make him wear the stinging thing around his neck and throw whatever they can at him. They yell and kick at him and then drop him from a high window and don’t let him come back inside even though it’s raining.

He can’t trust humans.

But the smell he’s starting to notice is enticing, and, though his back is still arched, he slowly inches toward whatever she has placed on the ground. And he realizes, with some surprise, that it’s his favorite food. The type that the last humans he lived with had only ever given him twice.

He flicks his green eyes back to the human, and she is still smiling at him. He doesn’t know what to think of this human, and he doesn’t want to trust her or the food, but his stomach is empty and he doesn’t know how long it’s been since he last ate, so he decides that it will be fine, just this once. He lowers his nose to the food and gives it a tentative lick, and when the flavors assault his taste buds, he can’t help but take a nearly too-large bite.

Even if he wants to savor it, he can’t force himself to slow down.

“You were really hungry, weren’t you?” the soft voice speaks those human words, and though he vaguely understands that she’s speaking to him and talking about how hungry he was, he doesn’t even look at her. She has blessed him with this one meal, so he won’t hiss at her for now. He even lets her lightly touch his head, and feels her fingers gently slide down to scratch behind his ears.

It feels so good he almost starts to purr, but he catches himself and quickly shakes his head. It’s enough to make her pull her hand back and he’s satisfied with himself for his restraint. But she still stays where she is, watching over him as he eats, and he wants to know why. Why is she feeding him? How did she know the type of food he likes? They’re questions he can’t answer. The human female is a mystery he can’t solve and he’s curious about her.

But he _does_ know that she’s a human, and humans are bad news.


	2. deux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But humans are cruel, and they’re incapable of giving him comfort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go! Part 2!
> 
> Hope you like it, Al! This is one you haven't seen before, after all. :)

_If I were human_ , he thinks bitterly, _she would stay away from me_.

But he’s not human, and she comes back.

He doesn’t know why she dares approach him, but the human woman comes back, again and again, and continues to feed him. He doesn’t want to give in to her, but it’s been so long since he’s had a full stomach so constantly that he can’t help it. So he indulges, sniffing experimentally at the food she brings every time.

The food never smells bad, and it’s always that type he really likes. The one that the previous humans who had held him captive rarely ever gave him.

This human smiles at him a lot. And she starts to babble at him sometimes, once even mentioning that he reminds her of a childhood cat. She calls that old cat her _friend **,**_ and he internally scoffs. Cats are never friends with humans, because humans can’t possibly see them as equal.

After a while, though, he starts to think that this human might be different.

When the thought crosses Adrien’s mind, he shakes his head to rid himself of the thought. No matter how kind she is, she is still a human, and humans will always, _always_ , be bad news. He’s learned that in the past and he knows that if he forgets it now, he’ll allow himself to hope for something different. For something _better_.

But humans are cruel, and they’re incapable of giving him comfort.

When she finally scratches behind his ears again, he is forced to rescind that opinion. This human can at least give him comfort, though she will never give him affection. Humans are insensitive, ignorant to his needs, and he knows that from experience.

He tries to hiss at her weakly when he starts to fear these thoughts, and she laughs, almost sadly, as she withdraws her fingers.

“Oh, _Chaton_ ,” she sighs, “someone hurt you, didn’t they?”

 _Humans,_ he thinks vehemently, but he makes no sound as he finishes the food she’s given him, and slowly she stands to leave. He pointedly ignores when she bids him farewell, and shies away from the way she gently pats his head as she leaves, and then she is gone.

He’s finally alone again, and he couldn’t be happier. It’s the way he’s meant to live, after all. A carefree life in the streets of this human-infested thing they call a city, with no doors to hold him back or invisible panes to keep him from slipping out into the box with flowers in it.

He’s alone in what the human female had called his alley, and it was perfect.

And he was _lonely_.


	3. trois

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Humans are bad, bad, bad news, and he’s starting to forget that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two parts in two days! How 'bout that?

_If I were human_ , his thoughts hiss, _she wouldn’t be able to manhandle me like this!_

After three weeks of constant visits in his alley, the human female decides she doesn’t like his home anymore. It’s dirty, she says, and when it rains he has nowhere adequate to hide himself. He doesn’t like to agree, but if he leaves his alley, he won’t see her anymore.

He tries to rid himself of the thought, but it sticks. So he’s been staying put, waiting for her visits. She feeds him, after all, and she’s not terrible, as far as humans go.

But she is still a human, and he has to remind himself not to trust her so much.

She’s _bad news_. He has to remember that, because nothing good has ever come from his fraternization with any human. It doesn’t matter that she feeds him, that she scratches him under the chin and manages to coax a rumbling purr from his chest. No, it doesn’t matter that she has never hurt him like all the others have.

It’s what she _is_ that’s the problem.

Adrien starts to forget to hiss at her, though, when she stops by. She starts to pet him more, and he lets himself purr. It’s only for a while, he tells himself when his eyes droop closed. When he nuzzles his nose against her palm, it’s only because she giggles and whatever sadness she has dissipates when he does.

But he doesn’t care about her or how she feels. He just cares about the food she brings him, and how he’s not quite so alone in those scattered few moments he spends with her.

When she first picks him up, though, he wriggles and wriggles and digs his back claws into her hand until she yelps and puts him back down. He watches her blow lightly on the scratches in her skin and he has enough heart to feel a split second of remorse.

The second time she picks him up, he just thrashes until she sighs and lets him drop to the hard ground once more, landing expertly on his feet. He doesn’t scratch her though because he hasn’t forgotten the jagged marks he’d left in her flesh for days after.

The third time, it’s raining.

He _hates_ the rain. There’s no good place to hide here, which is one of the reasons she picks him up and holds him beneath her outer layer. He thinks she calls it a _jacket_ , but he’s not paying much attention as she informs him that it’s much too open in his alley. And then, to his horror, she starts walking with him, and refuses to let him go. He even dares to dig his front claws into the flesh beside her neck, but she just holds him closer and continues to walk.

When finally she ceases to move, fumbling for something, he thinks it’s his chance. He wiggles again and she tells him, almost sharply, to hold still for just a few more minutes. He’s never heard that tone in her voice and he stills, heart beating an erratic tune in his chest.

And then he hears a gentle creaking sound and a rush of warm, dry air greets him.

The human gently places him down on a wooden surface and he starts when he realizes where he’s at. He’s in one of those places that humans live, what his last human captors had called a _house._ He wants to run, but he knows that outside is wet, and in here it is dry and cozy and warm.

A large figure descends, and he realizes that the human female has crouched in front of him, and in her hand is a can of his favorite food.

“Now you’ll be dry, _Chaton_ ,” she says softly, placing the food in front of him and reaching to scratch behind his ears before she pushes herself to her feet and is off again. He hears clinking noises coming from another part of the house and assumes that she is doing something, but for now Adrien just focuses on the food.

He wishes he were larger so that she wouldn’t have been able to abduct him so easily…but he realizes that he’s not really resentful. And that’s a very bad thing.

Humans are bad, bad, _bad_ news, and he’s starting to forget that.


	4. quatre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And, what’s more, he finds himself growing curious about this particular human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As per usual, this chapter is for TheAmazingAl! 
> 
> It was a little tougher to write because I'm working towards some scenes/parts that are already written but...here it is. Hope you like it.

_If I were human_ , his thoughts are wistful, _maybe my views of them would be different._

He can no longer deny that this particular human female, whose annoying friend with a loud voice and red hair calls her _Marinette_ , is different from his previous captors. Marinette is kind, considerate, and knows when to leave him alone to go about his business.

She doesn’t let him leave, though.

Adrien resents her a little for this. He is not of her kind, and he belongs outside. He longs for his alley, for his days of being alone and doing as he pleased when he pleased. But…he also doesn’t miss the constantly changing conditions, the way his alley’s smell would change depending on the time of day or the number of humans that had passed through. He doesn’t miss the unforgiving rain and the way it soaks him to the bone.

And, what’s more, he finds himself growing _curious_ about this particular human.

He has learned many things about her since she took him into her home in the rain. The first thing was that the food he really liked was called _tuna_. Even thinking about it made him crave it, but he stayed basking in the warm sunlight through those invisible panes, which he learned were _glass_ and formed a _window_. He found that, since he wasn’t quite as eager to leave her side as he had expected, he could enjoy being inside a human’s residence.

It smelled nice.

There was no excess of human waste and the crinkly packaging that they threw out in her house. The floors were slippery, though, and she had giggled at him the first few times he had gone sliding. He knows that she had no ill intentions, but he’s still miffed about it. He knows that laughter is how humans show joy, and how the weird way they turned the corners of their mouths up was another way of doing the same.

He noticed that she always did that _smiling_ thing around her friends…but when she’s alone, this _Marinette_ loses the grin. Her shoulders slump a little, and when she turns the corners of her lips up at him, he can’t help but feel like it’s more _sad_ than it should be.

After a few weeks of living with her, he finally voluntarily approaches her for the first time, and tentatively asks for her attention.

“ _Meow_ ,” he says, sniffing at one of her hairless forepaws in curiosity.

In surprise, her wide eyes turn to him, and then a true smile crosses her features. He starts to feel funny inside as she lifts her forepaw— _hand_ , he remembers—to lightly rub his head. A rumble builds in his chest before he can stop it, and a little chuckle escapes the human female’s lips.

Marinette is _happy_. And it’s because of him.

“Hello, _Chaton_ ,” she greets him, in that soft voice she reserves only for him.

He simply meows once again, and that weird quirk of her lips turns up even more.

There’s something inside him that positively _glows_ from pride, because he had done something that even the girl with red hair could not. He’s made Marinette actually smile and it isn’t forced. And it’s hard to slowly pull back and curl up on the cushion beside her instead of continuing forward and climbing into her lap. But he is not brave enough to take that step.

He reminds himself that she’s still a human, and no matter how kind she seems, he can’t bring himself to trust her completely.

He reminds himself because he _has_ to remember.


	5. cinq

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What he wouldn't give to caress her cheek with a human hand of his own, someday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, for TheAmazingAl!
> 
> Hope you like it :)

_If I were human,_ he thought, frustrated, _I wouldn’t have to share her as much._

It’s been several months now, and Adrien has realized that Mari is a popular human. She has a lot of friends…and a lot of male humans that try to get close to her. Adrien doesn’t really like it when the male humans steal her attention, because they sit really close together on the couch and he doesn’t get as many pets from her.

And sometimes, she leaves with them and doesn’t come back for a really long time. She calls them _dates_ , and she’s giggly and _cute_ and he doesn’t want her to leave.

He’s started to hiss at the different males that come around. The one called _Nino_ is okay because he has some sort of closeness with the Alya girl that Marinette is friends with. The moves that the _others_ pull on Adrien’s human are never attempted by this _Nino_ , unless it’s directed towards the human with red fur on her head. _Hair_ , he reminds himself.

So, after he has been scolded and spritzed with water— _the demon substance_ —because he has scratched another human male that tried to get close to Mari, he watches the man shake his hand before using an angry tone with the woman. Adrien bristles again, a hiss building in his throat, before the man turns and storms out of Marinette’s house.

She didn’t try to stop him, but steps forward to lock the door after he has left. She turns back to clean up the _popcorn_ that he spilled when Adrien scratched him, and Adrien feels guilty that he can’t really help. He hops down from his perch on the back of an armchair and tries, though, picking up a salty piece and dropping it near her.

She gives him a quick scratch behind the ears, but she didn’t speak to him. She focuses on the task at hand instead, and he still feels like he’s done something to upset her, even though he’s only protecting her.

It’s only the second time he’s actually scratched someone for her, but she gets upset when he does and he doesn’t know how to feel about it.

Later, Marinette heaves a heavy sigh and scratches him behind the ears, and Adrien starts to purr.

" _Chaton_ ," she says softly as they lay together in her bed, "I know that you went through something rough before I found you. I don't know what it was, and I might never figure it out. But you're going to have to start being nice to more people, you know?"

Adrien snuffled derisively, turning his head away from her and resting his chin on his paws. It wasn't his fault that all those male humans were trying to get close to her, after all. He was just protecting her from the greater evils of the outside world.

 _All in all_ , the cat thinks, _it would be better if she just always stayed home, with him._

"Don't give me that, _chaton_ ," she shifted, and her shadow fell across him. "You get along with Nino now, so I know you can do it."

The problem was that he didn't _want_  to get along with anyone else. Why didn't she see that?

He meowed, upset, and her fingers stilled. The comforting feeling of her hands itching his ears was gone, and the awkward silence made Adrien wriggle uncomfortably, rolling on his side to peer up at her out of one eye. She slid one finger down his belly and he swatted at her hand, carefully tucking his claws away.

Marinette giggled and leaned forward to press a soft kiss to his nose. "Well, I guess getting along with Nino is good enough for now," she relented, and he lightly rested his paw on her cheek.

What he wouldn't give to caress her cheek with a human hand of his own, someday.


End file.
